Diabetes Mellitus News

FRIDAY, Dec. 2, 2016 – Eating low-carbohydrate meals may lead to healthy changes in a woman's metabolism that don't occur when consuming higher-carbohydrate meals, a small study suggests. The researchers also found that the timing of exercise may play a role in how beneficial it is for your metabolism. The study's senior author, Katarina Borer, said the study illustrates that small changes can make a difference, such as watching the kinds of foods you eat and not exercising at an inappropriate time. "It's an empowering message," said Borer, a professor at the University of Michigan's School of Kinesiology. The study reported that when people ate three meals containing just 30 percent carbohydrates over a 24-hour period, they had a 30 percent reduction in their after-meal insulin resistance and insulin levels. Insulin is a hormone that helps the body use carbohydrates from food to fuel ... Read more

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 30, 2016 – For people with type 2 diabetes, better blood sugar control may be as easy as getting up off the couch and standing every so often, or taking a leisurely walk, a new study shows. Dutch researchers noted that "moderate to vigorous" exercise is often recommended for people with diabetes – but most patients don't comply with that advice. This small new study suggests that even sitting a bit less might be of real benefit. One diabetes expert in the United States agreed with that advice. "For years, I would suggest an exercise regimen to my patients that I knew was doomed to failure," said Dr. Robert Courgi, an endocrinologist at Northwell Health's Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, N.Y. However, "by tweaking the message a bit, the odds of success increase significantly," he said. "Ultimately, any activity helps lower glucose [blood sugar]. The message of 'sitting ... Read more

TUESDAY, Nov. 29, 2016 – Primary care doctors should offer counseling about healthy lifestyle habits to prevent heart disease – even to adults who have a low or average risk of developing heart troubles, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force advises. The task force is an influential, independent panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine. "For people who are not at increased risk for heart disease, counseling on healthy eating and physical activity may help prevent heart disease for some people," task force vice chair Susan Curry said in a panel news release. Curry is dean of the University of Iowa College of Public Health. This latest draft recommendation reaffirms a prior advisory from the task force in 2012. "The task force encourages primary care professionals to individualize this counseling and consider offering it to adults who are interested in and ... Read more

TUESDAY, Nov. 29, 2016 – Insulin, a life-saving medication used to treat diabetes, was discovered nearly 100 years ago, yet the price of the drug has now spiked by 700 percent in just two decades. In early November, Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Democrat, pointed out that certain insulins had risen from $21 a vial in 1996 to $255 a vial in 2016. Some have likened the insulin price boosts to the recent price hikes for EpiPen – the life-saving medication needed when someone has a serious allergic reaction. Edith Prentiss, 64, of New York City, knows all too well what the rising cost of insulin means for her. She needs insulin to treat her diabetes and stay alive, yet living on a fixed income has forced her to make tough choices on which drug she can afford. "I have other medications I've been on for years, and as they became generic, they got cheaper. Insulin has never gotten any ... Read more

MONDAY, Nov. 28, 2016 – Middle-aged adults who've avoided obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes are far less likely than others to experience heart failure in their later years, new research reports. Investigators found that a 45-year-old without those three key risk factors has as much as an 86 percent lower risk for heart failure compared with someone with poor control of weight, blood pressure and blood sugar. "This paper provides more evidence to demonstrate the importance of a heart-healthy lifestyle," said study co-author Dr. John Wilkins. He's a cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine and preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Good lifestyle habits can help prevent obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes in many people, "which will substantially reduce their chances of developing cardiovascular disease later in ... Read more

MONDAY, Nov. 28, 2016 – Chronically ill women who don't use the internet may struggle with worse health, a new study finds. "A significantly larger proportion of non-internet users reported needing help learning what to do to manage their health conditions and needing help learning how to care for their health conditions," said researcher Carolyn Mendez-Luck. She's an assistant professor in the School of Social and Behavioral Health Sciences at Oregon State University. She and her colleagues analyzed information provided by hundreds of American women aged 44 and older with at least one chronic condition. These included heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, emphysema and anxiety. More than one-third didn't use the internet. And fewer than half of those who did have access used the web to learn from others with a chronic disease, the researchers found. Also, fewer ... Read more

THURSDAY, Nov. 24, 2016 – People with diabetes are at risk for vascular complications due to high blood sugar levels, but can take measures to reduce that risk, an expert says. "Diabetes is one of the strongest risk factors for any form of vascular disease, both symptomatic and asymptomatic," Dr. Gregory Moneta, chief of vascular surgery at Oregon Health and Science University's Cardiovascular Institute, said in a Society for Vascular Surgery news release. "Those with diabetes should have regular doctor visits and tests, and may need to see specialists such as ophthalmologists, vascular surgeons and podiatrists for checkups," he added. Vascular complications caused by diabetes include diabetic eye disease, peripheral artery disease (impaired circulation in the legs), peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage) and foot ulcers, heart attack and kidney failure. Steps to prevent these ... Read more

TUESDAY, Nov. 22, 2016 – An estimated one in 250 Americans lands in the hospital emergency department each year because of a medication-related reaction or problem, a new federal study finds. Among adults 65 and older, the rate is about one in 100, the study authors said. Remarkably, the medicines causing the most trouble haven't changed in a decade, the researchers noted. Blood thinners, diabetes medicines and antibiotics top the list. These drugs accounted for 47 percent of emergency department visits for adverse drug events in 2013 and 2014, according to the analysis. Among older adults, blood thinners, diabetes medicines and opioid painkillers are implicated in nearly 60 percent of emergency department visits for adverse drug events. "The same drugs are causing the most problems," said study co-author Dr. Daniel Budnitz. The study doesn't tease out what went wrong. The reasons ... Read more

MONDAY, Nov. 21, 2016 – Here's some good news for America's seniors: Dementia rates have dropped dramatically over the last decade or so, according to a new study. An analysis of responses from a study of more than 10,000 people aged 65 and older found the prevalence of dementia dropped about 24 percent between 2000 and 2012. The reasons for the decline aren't clear, researchers say. But two factors stand out: The participants in 2012 had more years of schooling than those in 2000; and chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes were being controlled more aggressively. "The decline in dementia risk among older adults that we found in our study – and that an increasing number of other studies around the world have found – does not mean that Alzheimer's and dementia have been solved," said lead researcher Dr. Kenneth Langa. He is a professor of medicine at the ... Read more

THURSDAY, Nov. 17, 2016 – Adding protein-rich or probiotic-laden foods to your diet may help control your blood sugar levels, according to a pair of new studies. Both proteins and probiotics appear to slow down digestion of carbohydrates, preventing blood sugar spikes that can lead to type 2 diabetes or exacerbate damage done by the disease, researchers found. Eating tuna fish with a slice of white bread produced a slower rise in blood sugar than eating carbs alone, said Huicui Meng, who led one of the studies. She's a postdoctoral researcher at Tufts University's Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging in Boston in Boston. Meanwhile, people who added foods rich in probiotics – a type of "good" bacteria – to their heart-healthy DASH diet achieved a significant reduction in their blood sugar levels, said Arjun Pandey, a student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute in Ontario, Canada. The ... Read more

THURSDAY, Nov. 17, 2016 – Hospital patients with low blood sugar may be at increased risk for death, a new study from Israel suggests. The study included nearly 3,000 patients with low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Nearly 32 percent died by the end of the follow-up period. For patients with moderate hypoglycemia, the risk of death was higher among those taking insulin than among those not taking insulin. For those with severe hypoglycemia, death risk was the same in both groups. The reason for hospital admission had no effect on the association between blood sugar levels and death risk, according to the study. It was published Nov. 17 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. "Hypoglycemia is common among hospitalized patients with and without diabetes mellitus. Our findings suggest that hypoglycemia, whether insulin-related or non-insulin related, is associated with short- ... Read more

-- If you take insulin, you'll need to create a comfortable routine to keep blood glucose under control. The American Diabetes Association explains: Type 1 diabetes typically needs at least two daily injections of two different types of insulin. Type 2 diabetics may need just one daily shot of insulin. Monitor closely how your blood glucose responds to different activities, such as exercise and eating. Find the insulin delivery method that's best for you, whether it's a pen, pump or syringe. Don't forget to change the injection site periodically. Talk to your doctor if you're not sure that your insulin dose is appropriate. Read more

MONDAY, Nov. 14, 2016 – Weight-loss surgery may significantly reduce obese people's risk of heart failure, a new study indicates. Researchers compared more than 25,800 obese people who had weight-loss (bariatric) surgery with more than 13,700 obese people who tried to lose weight through a program of major lifestyle changes. Both groups had no history of heart failure. Four years after the start of treatment, the weight-loss surgery group had lost more weight, had a nearly 50 percent lower risk of heart failure, and had lower rates of heart rhythm problems, diabetes and high blood pressure than the lifestyle-changes group, the findings showed. Both groups had similar rates of heart attack and death, according to the study, which was scheduled for presentation Monday at the American Heart Association (AHA) annual meeting, in New Orleans. "Our study shows an association between obesity ... Read more

SUNDAY, Nov. 13, 2016 – Black Americans who smoke a pack or more a day of cigarettes may be at higher risk for diabetes, a new study finds. "Smoking cessation should be strongly encouraged in blacks with risk factors for diabetes," concluded a team led by Wendy White, a health science professor at Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Miss. The researchers tracked outcomes for nearly 3,000 black participants enrolled in the Jackson Heart study. During the study, 466 of the participants were diagnosed with diabetes. The risk of diabetes was similar among those who smoked less than a pack a day, former smokers and those who never smoked, the researchers found. However, "high intensity" smokers – who smoked a pack or more a day – had a 62 percent greater risk of developing diabetes, White's team found. The study couldn't prove that smoking caused the diabetes, but it did point to an ... Read more

SUNDAY, Nov. 13, 2016 – New research shows that cases of heart disease have dropped 20 percent in the United States in the last four decades. Experts credit the trend to better detection and prevention of risk factors that endanger heart health. "That means all the efforts are paying off," said senior researcher Michael Pencina. He is director of biostatistics for the Duke Clinical Research Institute at Duke University, in Durham, N.C. However, most major heart risk factors – bad cholesterol, high blood pressure and smoking – remain strong contributors to heart disease, showing that more can be done to protect patients, Pencina added. "Coronary disease was the size of a large pizza, but now it's a medium pizza," Pencina said. "But in terms of slices, what portion of the pizza you can attribute to the risk factors, it's about the same," he explained. "There is definitely room for ... Read more